Celtics were wise to stay away from Kawhi Leonard, says Glenn Ordway

Leonard played just nine games last season with the Spurs before requesting a trade this offseason, with the Lakers being his preferred destination. San Antonio instead sent Leonard and Danny Green to the Toronto Raptors for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick.

Leonard has reportedly let it be known he has no desire to play for the Raptors, which is why Glenn Ordway believes the Celtics were smart not to part with any of their pieces for the two-time All-NBA small forward.

“I don’t think the Toronto Raptors did their homework,” Ordway said on OMF. “From somebody within the Celtics organization, they told me that they can’t give up anything for Kawhi Leonard because they’ve done their research and they are thoroughly convinced that it’s one year and out, that he’s not staying in Boston.

“There was no way, the Celtics with their research, felt that he was going to stay in Boston, and they do feel quite confident that Kyrie Irving is going to stay.”

DeRozan remains under contract for three seasons with the Spurs, which makes it more puzzling why Toronto, a place DeRozan was committed to winning with, decided to let him go for a rental that is not keen on playing for the Raptors.

“If you’re going to do this deal and you’re going to bring Kawhi Leonard in and go for it for one year and you say to yourself, ‘the East sucks right now. All we have to do is beat Boston, we can beat anybody else,’ you do the deal without giving up your best player in DeRozan,” Ordway said. “You try and unload salary and do whatever you’ve got to do. That’s what the Celtics were going to do. If the Celtics could get Kawhi Leonard, they were going to do it for one year, knowing it was one year. They weren’t going to give up any of their important pieces.”

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